Songwriting is an anonymous gig. In Nashville, NSAI(Nashville Songwriters Association International)actually honors these people who create in dark and hidden corners. Music publisher Sam Rammage recalled the humble pride that Mary Chapin Carpenter had, after she signed a publishing deal with EMI. She already was a top selling recording artist at Columbia, but being honored as a songwriter was the certification that she needed.

Few people, even those in the music industry and especially in radio knew who Tim Krekel was. The late Jamie Cohen knew him as a great guitar player when he was in the Sluggers, a band honoring that Louisville baseball bat. But people remembered those songs that he had written that were recorded for Van Morrison, Jimmie Buffett and Jason and the Scorchers among others. One song can make a writer financially solvent for life, as was the case for Gary B. White who wrote Long Long Time (Linda Ronstadt ). Writers like Barry Mann, Cynthia Wiel, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka ,Carol King, and Laura Nyro among others made their careers as songwriters, rather than as performers.

John Fogarty, not Dylan, Lennon or McCartney wrote more songs that topped the radio charts then all of the hip writers while a member of Credence Clearwater, a band that was considered unhip in the era of alternative music. Yet CCR was the band that was ultimately credited as the nucleus for Grung. So, who were the great writers? Some are in Nashville, others are in L.A. and New York. Among them is Stephen Stills who wrote For What It’s Worth, about the Sunset Strip riots, when suburban kids fought against the L.A. County Sheriffs. Another was Marvin Gaye, who penned What’s Going On. an anthem for returning Vietnam era vets who were getting hooked and zonked on Angel Dust (PCP) in South Central. Then there is Men Of Good Fortune, an ode to high school football players on Long Island.

Some songs display anger, as when Manitoba rocker Brian Cummings wrote American Woman, probably the most anti-American song to ever get massive American airplay. Mississippian Paul Thorn wrote one of the best songs ever composed about blue collar angst in Burn Down The Trailer Park. Austinite Bruce Robison penned Angry All The Time about the personal tragedy of metaphase. Of course, Dolly Parton wrote an honest account of her own poverty and pride in Coat Of Many Colors, about the hand sewn garment that she wore as a child to a rural school. Her mother made the dress, and she was ridiculed by fellow grade schoolers for wearing an outfit made out of rags. Those hillbillies probably spend good money to attend Dollywood, the theme park that is part of her multitude of corporate holdings.

Roger Alan Wade is considered by many in the know as one of the best tunesmiths to ever grace a Nashville stage. For years, he remained an obscure poet, playing in a Chattanooga bar until his exposure through the cult underground film Jackass. Tom Faulkner is also obscure, but his one released album Last Stop Texico is considered by some as one of the top albums in the world of Americana. His only exposure came in an obscure Sam Shepherd film, Curse Of The Starving Class. Fellow Fort Worth native Tom Douglas is comfortable raising his family in Nashville, writing songs that occasionally border on rap and hip hop. Both Lee Ann Womack and Tim McGraw have reached the top of the charts covering songs that Tom has written. Patti Griffin remains in relative obscurity living in Austin but she too has found success in Nashville. Fellow Austinite Nancy Griffith had to travel to Nashville, because the folks back home paid little attention to her and critics belittled her music. It has taken Steve Earle to actually cover the Townes Van Zandt catalogue. because there was a myriad of songs beyond Poncho and Lefty and Big Freightliner in the Townes songbook.

There are thousands of other great writers who have touched the soul and most remain in obscurity. Still, they continue to carry on. James Taylor probably wrote it best when he penned the line “That’s Me On The Jukebox.”. A Providence Rhode Island composer by the name of David Olney still travels the back roads of obscurity, but along with Guy Clark, remains one of the most prolific voices in Nashville. Songwriting is a craft, rather than an art. So is screenwriting, acting and performing. Most of the people who get up on that stage fail to understand that fact, and think that angst and anarchy is the goal. They refuse to study the form. That is why people like John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen continue to remain icons. They learned how to write.

RETRO AUSTIN

For all of the pontification about Austin being the Live Music Capitol of the World, Austin is a pretty conservative music place. Performers tend to be conservative, or even retro in their performances. Punk and headbanger still prevail in the clubs. Among the more popular acts are The Bellevue Outfit who seem stuck in 1940’s Swing and Asleep At The Wheel, and Alvin Crow and The Pleasant Valley Boys, who celebrate the Western Swing of The Texas Playboys.

Much of the original music sounds like rewrites of standards.

Then there is Susan Choffel. She is perhaps the most refreshing young female performer on the national scene. During the 2009 SXSW, Ken Irwin, the head of Rounder Records attended just about every one of her performances.. Her music is a mixture of pop, jazz, rock and soul. Her writing skills are on a par with anybody in Hollywood and Nashville. She is young, has a great voice, and most importantly, she has a great and recordable voice.

In a place, where performers try to out shock one another with their attire and appearance, she looks like the anonymous person next in line at the checkout counter. For all of the hype, few national acts have emerged from Austin. It has been several years since the last local act, Spoon broke through, and the hundreds of local performers in Austin seem to be in competition for the next frustration award. Somehow, staying conservative and going through the songbook of recent history seems to be the norm on the scene.

Susan Choffel is not the norm, or the status quo.

THE SECRET DIVA

If ever a performer seemed to have an identity crisis, it is Essra Mohawk, the Philadelphian who has lived in almost total obscurity out in Bellevue Tennessee for more than a decade. When she played with The Mothers of Invention, she was Uncle Meat. She put out a hillbilly record under the alter ego of Essie Mae Hawk, and had songs recorded by Cindi Lauper and Lorrie Morgan among others. Even though she lives in suburbia, her lifestyle still borders between Hippie and Beatnik. She has put out records on major and obscure record labels. She has contributed music to children’s projects and is a devout Buddhist.

Over the past few decades, she has developed a core audience who relish her as this kind of mad musical genius and creative artist. Like so many other performers, she lives in relative obscurity in the Nashville area, rarely playing shows in her own home town. Most people who treasure The Mothers of Invention, do not even know that she still exists, living in that two story Cape Cod style house on a hill, in a suburban sub-division.

Still, whatever she calls herself, she is a mesmerizing performer who occasionally will irritate even her most loyal supporters with her off hand comments. Most of her recorded output is either in recycling bins, or out of availability. Yet, that loyal band of followers know that she is indeed an icon, no matter what she calls herself.

The CHEETERS, Gunter Vile (aka Doug Lewis), Klaus Kertz (Andy Kravitz) and Dietrich Von Bone (Jamie Cohen)are an art band – their music is an art project. The Cheeters were not built to last, they were about a go for broke moment – They went deep and deeper still – Buddha was in the back seat and Bacchus was at the wheel. The Cheeters are an urgent confession, an uncompromising creative explosion marked by intelligence in the tradition of Captain Beefheart, Rage Against the Machine, and Nick Cave. The music is solid, inspired but it is the subtle lyrics, the sophisticated imagery and the complex multi-textured sound mix that is the band’s trademark. There is humor and passion and the pure joy of invention in this music and the Cheeters always tell the truth and never pull their punches. This music is made from stories told of lives lived, not fantasies, told by guys that got laid, not guys wishing they got laid. What strikes one about listening to the Cheeters is how present they are, how in the zeitgeist, giving you the newest news, the latest edition. They embraced randomness and found objects. What does that mean? I get a call from Gunter, car noise, clanking beer cans, he’s somewhere in Santa Fe, “Hey man, we just met this chick in a 7-11 while stopping for cigarettes and she says she can sing. We’re headed back to the studio now.” There was no master plan. They were on a wild ride, totally dedicated to the realm of the magical and committed and it was all holy. It was dangerous, probably crazy and they were on a grand high, a high stakes transcendent journey reduced to a three box set. That is how the dust settles on angels with outstretched wings. Gunter Vile and Dietrich Von Bone had a shared sensibility that went back over twenty five years. They wrote together and emerged as one voice. They knew how to tread in darkness, they knew how to mine the madness and they knew the poetry of lust and outrage. Gunter Vile is a master of the crooked phrase, a knowing wit and a musical sensibility informed by the bands of his psychedelic Marin County youth such as Tower of Power and the Sons of Champlin. Von Bone was also a consummate wordsmith, steeped in the blues and in the dada-surrealist sensibility. Listen to the Cheeters and you will hear echoes of absurdist poet, Tristian Tzara, as well as Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht. Weil & Brecht. Vile & Bone. If they met they’d share respect. Klaus Kertz (aka Andy Kravitz), a two time Grammy winning producer, mixer, writer, engineer, and drummer was their soul brother, the catalytic third element and the maestro of the secret sauce. The Cheeters are about love, beauty, the ambiguous ephemeral, life, death and sex. It’s not only rock and roll but you’ll like it. M.D. Baer, July 4, 2009.

THE CHEETERS – LIES IN HIGH FIDELITY, available on Bandcamp. Recorded June 8, 2007 to September 11, 2008 in Montauk, Philly, Santa Fe, NM, Venice, CA. Lies In High Fidelity is the first of a three volume set.

Unfortunately, last March, Jim suffered an accident while surfing at Westward Beach; his head hit the bottom, severely injuring his neck and paralyzing him instantly.

Although he escaped death by drowning (thanks to the action of fellow surfers and local lifeguards), he had to undergo emergency surgery followed by acute rehab. Since then, he has been enduring extensive physical therapy to regain movements of limbs.

Another stunning series of photographs by legendary photographer, Hans Feurer, captured aboard The Avalon, Captain Peter Bristow at the helm. I’m guessing this fish weighs in somewhere around 600-700lbs, more or less.

FRAME 1: Me and a big fish, eye to eye…

FRAME 2: Reaching for the wire…

FRAME 3: Same day but a different fish, smaller, perhaps 400-500lbs, but similar action. I’ve got the wire…holding steady with my left hand with a couple, three wraps in my right. The bait fish is visible off the head of the big fish. As we will see, the hook is firmly in place.

FRAME 4: The big fish is turning a bit, the bait still visible at its lower jaw.

FRAME 5: Moments later, the marlin has come around and I’m grabbing wire by the fistfull.

FRAME 6: What’s left of the baitfish (head only) can be clearly seen, as can the 12/0 hook planted firmly in the lower jaw of the Black Marlin. In the lower left of frame, the white tag pole is plunging a tag into the big fish.

FRAME 7: A split second later…

FRAME 8: Up close and personal!

FRAME 9: One last look. Still hanging on, waiting for the wire to be cut…so much for that!